NBA Brings Its Game to Asia

The National Basketball Association has brought its game to Asia, and it is looking to dominate.

Carlo Singson, country manager of NBA Asia for the Philippines, said the league is eager to expand in Asia, after having successfully built fan bases in China and the Philippines. He cited the region’s population and growing affluence as reasons the NBA sees Asia as ideal for its growth.

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European Pressphoto Agency

National Basketball Association players James Harden, fourth from the left, and Eric Gordon, fourth from the right, pose with Filipino officials, Indiana Pacemates and the mascot of the Memphis Grizzlies in Manila on Thursday, July 25.

China is the NBA’s biggest market outside the U.S., not just because of its size but due to the country’s success in sending players to the league, including global celebrity Yao Ming. And in the Philippines, basketball has reached a near-religious popularity, where basketball courts can be found everywhere from inner city roads to dirt paths in rural areas.

Just last week, thousands of fans braved monsoon rains—some enduring two overnight vigils—to secure free tickets for the first visit of four-time NBA Most Valuable Player LeBron James. Local hoop stars, meantime, have used their celebrity to launch movie and political careers long after they hung up their jerseys. The Philippine Basketball Association boasts of being the oldest professional basketball association in Asia, and college games are broadcast live on television.

“These two markets [China and the Philippines] are big for us. What we are trying to do is to also grow in other markets. We are talking about Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, India, Australia. We are doing a lot of initiatives in those countries … to develop the game,” Mr. Singson told The Wall Street Journal on the sidelines of the NBA’s launch of a three-on-three tournament scheduled for this weekend.

This week, NBA stars James Harden of the Houston Rockets and Eric Gordon of the New Orleans Pelicans are in Manila to spice up the league’s three-on-three competition. The tournament will be held just days before the Fédération Internationale de Basketball, or FIBA, the international governing body for basketball, holds its Asian basketball championship. The region’s top 3 qualifiers will fight for supremacy in FIBA’s world championship competition next year.

In October, NBA teams will play four preseason games in Asia, equal to the number scheduled for Europe. China will get to see two games, one will be played in Taiwan and Manila will get its first-ever preseason game. Nearly all the tickets, which sell between $12.70–a day’s salary of an average Filipino worker—and $1,247 have been sold out. The game will be played at Manila’s 15,000-seat Mall of Asia Arena. Games in Manila and Taiwan will feature the Houston Rockets, whose star, aside from Harden, is Jeremy Lin, the American son of Taiwanese immigrants.

“In the Philippines we have huge fan base. For us, it is how do we get people to engage with the brand, with the NBA. How do we get them to keep playing the sport,” said Mr. Singson.

That isn’t the case in other parts of Asia, where cricket and soccer more popular than basketball.

“In other parts of Asia where maybe basketball isn’t as well played as it is in the Philippines, we are trying to build the sport, the relevance of basketball,” said Mr. Singson. The goal is to build the fan base and get more people to follow the NBA online and on television, he added.

About Southeast Asia Real Time

Indonesia Real Time provides analysis and insight into the region, which includes Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Brunei. Contact the editors at SEAsia@wsj.com.

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